Bra fitting help » Band is too long, but what about baggy cups?
Freya » Summer Haze Balcony (3991) » 32F 32:7
Issue resolved
Original problem
The band is too long, but I understand this is typical of Freya bras. I fasten it on the tightest hook and do the swoop-&-scoop, and my boobs fill the cups pretty well, except for a slight wrinkling and gap in the upper part of the right cup (my smaller boob). The wires match the line of my breast root along the sides, but on the right boob the wire is slightly in front of the root line, so I'm thinking the cups are too small OR I need wider wires. The bottom of the wire is about a finger width below my IMF, so I'm not filling the cups completely at the bottom. By the end of the day, the wires have crept down and are digging into my ribs, and the cups gap at the top. The straps tend to slip off, too. I know I need a shorter band, but I'm not sure about the cup size. Is it too big or too small? This bra is a 32F (UK size). If I go down to a 30 band and up to an FF cup, will that fix the problems? Or maybe the shape isn't ideal for me. I can wear this bra as is, and it looks pretty good under clothes, but I want to understand how to choose the correct size.
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Suggestions (4)
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It would help to see more pictures of you in the bra, more angles, and esp showing the issues you complained about
The cup looks too big. It also looks too tall. I think you may have short root. i wonder if a half cup would work better for you. Short root meaning your breast itself is short, from teh bottom to the top of the tissue. If the cup is taller than your breast it wont fit right.
So I dont think this particular model will work, but it wouldnt hurt to try it in a 30F
Also, look at your breast perimeters and the cup depths - cup is larger than your breast. however, it also matters the shape of the cup.
Updated on January 28, 2020 Flag this
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Putting in my two cents! I am leaning towards the bra not providing enough projection at the bottom of the wire. You do not fill the bottom of the cup and it kind of kinks your breast tissue. Thanks for adding the improved side view. It looks like the wires are a good fit for the sides but not centrally nor in the IMF. It seems like the bra is pulling your breasts slightly to the sides.
I do not think that a different size in this bra would help - too bad because it is such a pretty colour. Balcony bras lean towards shallow cups and wider set straps, not the best features for you! Sorry, but I am not sure that I agree with dbmamaz about short roots - looks more average. Anyone with sure fire ways to determine that characteristic? Ah... the trickery of understanding our bodies and the bras that do not fit them.
Updated on January 29, 2020 Flag this
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Hmm, jazzypants you may be right, perhaps I need more projection. If I lean over, my breasts do hang straight down. But then I don't understand how to choose the cup size and wire width. It's my understanding that the wire should follow your IMF.
So, if it sits lower than my IMF at the bottom of the breast, but it matches the crease line along the side of the breast, does that mean I need wider wires? Or will a more projected cup allow my breast to fill out all the cup and the wires will then match the IMF? I'm trying to visualize what you say about the bra pulling my breasts slightly to the sides, and I think I can see how a more projected cup would make the wires fit the IMF better...
I'm going to pay close attention to the measurements of bras and see how they compare with my own breast measurements. I remember seeing pictures of breasts with short roots on one of the bra blogs somewhere. Or maybe it was narrow roots, but if I can find the site again I'll post the link.
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Having the wire fit along the side of the breast, in this situation, is meaningful only in that you know what it looks like in profile and want to replicate that with other bras. However, the wire fails in the IMF and medially.
If the bottom of the cup had enough fabric to accommodate your breast tissue, the wire may or may not be a good fit for you. I am not a visual wizard on what could be! You are correct in that the wire should follow along the periphery of breast tissue in that "U" formation. Right now, your breast tissue is migrating upwards in the cup where there is more room, leaving the base of the cup empty.
Look for bras that are structurally designed to have projection at the wire. hopefully with narrower wires to accommodate you. Folks have discussed various brands that offer this so they are not unicorns, just more expensive than Freya.
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jazzypants, you are a visual wizard in helping me visualize how the wire should fit! Thanks! I will look for those projected bras with narrow wires and investigate the Polish ones.
Here are some good pictures of breast roots:
https://images.app.goo.gl/Vu5N5kAULLUA4TpYA
https://images.app.goo.gl/VQiLHssC1Rr5X9nV7
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Hi, I tried this bra a few months back and this is one of the weirdest bra shapes I've EVER come across. I am pretty sure it's not you, it's the bra. So far there's only 4 of these on BTB and it hasn't fitted anyone! I also checked some Amazon reviews before I purchased it and they were pretty skeptical of the fit as well.
If the band is too loose then it's going to contribute to the issues of the cups not staying in place and the wires moving down, but in this case I am pretty sure the problem is that the cup shape isn't a good match for most people.
Here's the way I described it in my original review: "However, the cup here is extremely deep and juts out horizontally for a very deep bottom cup. The side of the cup is shallow, but the cup is very full at a point that is off-center and towards the gore. The top of the cup is extremely closed off and the elastic sits flush against my chest while the rest of the cup is a baggy mess."
I wouldn't recommend bothering with this in another size, although I agree that it would be better to go down a band and potentially down a cup if you really wanted to give it another go.
Updated on February 8, 2020 Flag this
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Hi, belleandblues ! I did see your review but it was after I bought the bra on eBay. Thanks for your thoughts, though - they make me feel better about the weird fit. That is one important thing I've learned since joining this site, that if the bra fits poorly, it isn't me, it's the bra. I think we are so conditioned to believe that our body must be defective if some random piece of clothing doesn't fit us the way it does the model in an advertisement.
I'm at the beginning of my journey to find correctly fitting bras, even though I'm already 56 years old, LOL! So this is really the first bra I've ever had outside of the usual department store bras that only go up to DD or maybe DDD with bigger bands. I'm not going to try this bra style again, but I'll try more Freyas and other brands.
dbmamaz and jazzypants , sorry I didn't tag you in the comments earlier but I didn't notice to do that at the time.
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Good luck! Amazon is a good place to start if you select Prime Wardrobe or styles with Free Shipping / Free Returns, so you can try different styles and sizes risk free. I have also been ordering from Breakout Bras and I've found emailing their team to be helpful when asking for advice on styles and sizes. I hope you find some well fitting bras soon!
Personally I've found that unlined Freya fashion styles have been pretty challenging, especially to blind-buy. There just aren't enough reliable and consistent entries here since they have so many different fashion styles and while they all look like similar plunge cuts, they have different cup shapes and specs and fit really differently. Some of them are honestly just bad cuts but it's super hard to tell without trying them on in person. I just had another Freya fail today, so as you're exploring different fits, maybe start with the more well-known brands and fits until you are pretty confident about your measurements, shape, and needs.
Once I am pretty confident about my best fitting measurements for different types of bras (unlined balconette, unlined plunge, lined balconette, lined plunge), I use the "Explore measurements" feature to give me an idea of potential bras to try. I cross check that against my Bratabase recommendations to see if some of the same styles and sizes show up and feel more confident about the fit than relying on the recs alone. The reason is that the recs factor in other people's fit feedback, and if their fit criteria is different or inaccurate, it will throw off your results too.
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Thank you, dbmamaz. I see now that one of my pictures didn't get uploaded, so I added it now. It's a side view where (hopefully) the wrinkling in the bottom of the cup is visible. Sorry for the lousy photos - I've just started adding bras and haven't got the experience in taking pictures properly.
I never thought about the cup being too tall; now I can see that I probably do have short roots, and your explanation of that makes it clear. I've had similar problems with other bras in the past - the tops of the cups tend to gap even if the rest of the cup fits.
My horizontal breast perimeter measurement is 11.0, which is actually smaller than the horizontal cup depth at 10.5. But I can see how that would be a good way to check for fit.